Back in November, Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney cut 15 to 25 staffers (though the firm declined to call them “layoffs”). Last week, it appears that the firm made additional cuts to its staff — and this time the firm is being clear about what is going on. Buchanan’s executive director Nolan Kurtz told Above the Law:

The firm eliminated about 25 to 30 administrative operations positions last week. Given the overall economic climate, we believe that it’s more important than ever to ensure that we have the right staffing in place firmwide.

The firm also announced the news directly to associates, on Friday. According to a tipster:

[Buchanan Ingersoll] announced Friday another round of cuts after several Harrisburg corp. and Philadelphia IP lawyers resigned….

Kurtz Buchanan told the [attorneys] that laying off staff was not because of the economy but good planning.

Will attorneys soon follow staffers into unemployment? Maybe. More from Mr. Kurtz after the jump.

Our Buchanan Ingersoll sources are understandably worried that attorney layoffs are coming to the firm. It doesn’t sound like Mr. Kurtz tried to hide the ball, on Friday. According to a tipster:

Executive director Nolan Kurtz also announced that lawyer head count would go down again shortly after “reviews are finished”….

Then he said the next group of lawyers to go will be because of performance not work loss.

Kurtz’s statement to ATL was far more diplomatic than our tipsters’ reports:

[W]e are also in the final stages of our annual attorney review period, which looks at work load, pro bono commitment, skill set and the overall needs of the firm. Much like any other firm or business, we continually review our personnel to ensure we have the best lawyers with the right skills and experience to deliver results for our clients.

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